Fallen is thy Throne, oh Israel!
Silence is o'er thy plains;
Thy dwellings all lie desolate,
Thy children weep in chains.
Where are the dews that fed thee
On Etham's barren shore?
That fire from Heaven which led thee,
Now lights thy path no more.
LORD! thou didst love Jerusalem--
Once she was all thy own;
Her love thy fairest heritage,[1]
Her power thy glory's throne.[2]
Till evil came, and blighted
Thy long-loved olive-tree;[3]--
And Salem's shrines were lighted
For other gods than Thee.
Then sunk the star of Solyma--
Then past her glory's day,
Like heath that, in the wilderness,[4]
The wild wind whirls away.
Silent and waste her bowers,
Where once the mighty trod,
And sunk those guilty towers,
While Baal reign'd as God.
"Go"--said the LORD--"Ye Conquerors!
"Steep in her blood your swords,
"And raze to earth her battlements,[5]
"For they are not the LORD'S.
"Till Zion's mournful daughter
"O'er kindred bones shall tread,
"And Hinnom's vale of slaughter[6]
"Shall hide but half her dead!"